Scientists have long thought about how living things might look on other planets and their satellites. Their reasoning was based on what we know today about distant planets and the principles of evolution and biomechanics. Here are some of the strange organisms they came up with …
Walking plants
On other planets, the line between plants and animals can be very blurred. And there may well be trees with beating hearts.
Or even legs. This will give them the opportunity to move to more advantageous positions during the struggle for light and water. In other worlds, there may be animals that spend most of their time without moving. They just lie there and photosynthesize. And they quickly run away in case of a threat. How about the idea of a massive dinosaur-like creature that has soil? This allows you to get nutrients directly from it. And this animal also gets additional energy from photosynthetic plants. Living on his back.
Mega creatures
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Collaboration between animals can cause some amazing creatures, such as amoeba, to organize themselves into a single jelly-like mega organism. That will devour everything in its path.
Or imagine a network of intertwined trees. They collect water for their own needs in wide jugs formed by their crowns. Interestingly, similar objects exist on our Earth. For example, the largest organism in the world is a 43 hectare aspen grove in Utah, USA. It consists of approximately 47,000 genetically identical stems. And one massive root system.
Extremely hardy
Getting oxygen for the muscles is a key factor in the endurance of any animal. Here on Earth, cephalopods like the octopus use copper-based blood molecules to carry oxygen.
This makes them not as active as mammals and birds. Which use iron-based hemoglobin for this. Scientists have speculated about alternative forms of oxygen transportation that could make alien animals more resilient. For example, in an oxygen-rich atmosphere, we might find creatures that fly without ever stopping to rest.
Small and blind
On cold planets and moons without a lot of sunlight, such as the moons of Saturn and Jupiter, life can have a biochemistry that uses much less energy.
This can, of course, lead to a complex life. But it will most likely be petite. In addition, on worlds completely devoid of sunlight, such as the depths of the oceans of Enceladus, it may not be necessary to develop eyes at all. There may be whole classes of creatures that evaluate the environment using other means.